St. Paul daily globe., 1887-03-23
THE CHILD SLAYER.

article in the GLOBE, urging the local health
authorities to take the necessary steps to
guard against a cholera invasion the coming
summer, asks us if we do not think it still
more essential to provide against the raw
ages of diphtheria and other diseases which
usually play sad havoc among the children
at this season of the year. Our correspond
ents suggestion is pertinent one. The
danger from cholera is more remote than
the other forms of disease which are sug
gested, and, on the principle that it is duty
to first repel the enemy nearest to ones
own door, it would be the duty of the
health authorities first to provide against
the rayageS of dphtheria and other local
diseases, but at the same time to keep we'll
in mind the fact that the other enemy is
i'll condition to successfully resist the as
sault. There is no question but that diph-
liberia and its kindred ally, membraneous
group. are the scourges OF this country.
| The mortality from diphtheria exceeds that
| from all other diseases combined and the
work Of destruction goes on steadily all
the year round. The spring and fall sea
SONS seem to De particularly adapted to its
| spread and virulence. The variable tenn
peratnre Of the spring season and the pre-
vailing moisture in the atmosphere readily
affect the throat. 1t is the season when
the blood is tainted with poison from the
| long winter confinement and the constant
inhalation of gases and foul air which
always exist in closed rooms. Consequently
! the system is more sensitive to disease
and more readily falls victim to contagion.
1t becomes all the more important that all
disease generating causes should be re-
moved and that the best hygienic conditions
should prevail in every locality. Streets
should be cleaned, and kept clean, garbage
and ash piles should be removed. drainage
kept open, water supplies purified, stables
and barns cleaned out, and every precau
ton taken that there should be no spot
within all the city limits where disease
germs could find a hiding place.
is pretty clearly demonstrated now that
| diphtheria is a contagious disease and that
So called dis.nfectants are powerless to pre-
vent its spread. The honelessness of check
f! ing its ravages by disinfectants has resulted
in suggesting to the physicians of New York
! the advisability of establishing diphtheria
| hospital in that city, in the hope that the
scourge'S terrors may be lessened. The
object of the hospital is more particularly
to benefit the poorer classes who live in the
0vercrOWded tenement houses, where it is
impossible that the patient can receive
proper treatment or to prevent the germs of
the disease being transferred from one per-
IN N hOSnitai w tLa
patients would have experienced medical
attendance. accompanied by thoroughly
trained nurses. it is but natural that
the mortality would be lessened. In
cases OF diphtheria and Group it is import
ant that the patients shall be kept in warm
rooms, and the danger of exposure to cold
in transit has heretofore been the principal
objection to the hospital plan. That, how
ever has been overcome by an ingenious
| New York doctor, who has invented novel
ambulance, containing heated crib eS
pecially constructed for this purpose. The
crib is so constructed and heated that the
sick child will breathe an atmosphere of
suitable temperature while being trans
| ferred from its home to the hospital. On
the arrival of the patient at the hospital
the crib is removed to the room which the
patient is to occupy. If the New York
hospital plan proves a success in abating
the terrible malady it will be adopted in
other cities The health statistics of the
majority of the American cities show that
there has been fearful increase in the
mortality from diphtheria within the last
three years, and it is time that medical
science was discovering some method to
check it,